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July 10, 2010

Redeemed

It was my housemate, Tudor Dimofte’s, first time in Aspen. So I thought I would take him up to Electric Pass. The view from the peak is, in my opinion, the most spectacular in this part of Colorado – and the ascent is a good introduction to hiking in these parts.

Unfortunately, our plans were thwarted. From the saddle, one has to traverse a very steep scree slope to reach the pass. There used to be a trail which cut, horizontally, across the scree slope and snow field (which often extended down past the trail). Unfortunately, that trail no longer exists. Instead, an indistinct trail meanders up and down the scree field, until finally petering out entirely, midway across.

Greg Moore, I later learned, had been able to reach the pass last year, but this year (he tried the day after we did), he had to turn back … as did a long line of hikers ahead of us. We tried to press on, picking our way slowly across the scree slope, but with strong gusting winds, and very unstable rock, we had to turn back a couple of hundred yards shy of the pass.

Deprived of our goal, we (and our companion, Sonia Paban) repaired to Cathedral Lake for lunch and an encounter with a very friendly marmot. Not a bad day, all in all, but a bit disappointing.